There has been a growing demand for mounting electronic components such as, for example, storages with a high density, in a data center. In the meantime, a heating value of electronic components used in an electronic equipment is increasing with the implementation of the electronic equipment with high performance.
When the electronic components having a large heating value are mounted with high density, the temperature of the electronic components may exceed an allowable upper limit temperature thereby causing a malfunction or a failure. Thus, there has been a demand for a cooling method that is capable of sufficiently cooling the electronic components having a large heating value even when the electronic components are mounted with high density.
As one of the cooling methods, it has been suggested to immerse the electronic components in a refrigerant so as to cool the electronic components.
For example, a liquid immersion cooling type electronic equipment has been suggested in which a fluorine-based inert liquid is used as a refrigerant, and electronic components are directly immersed in the inert liquid. However, the direct contact of generally distributed electronic components such as, for example, hard disks with an inert liquid has not been considered. Thus, when these electronic components are directly immersed in the inert liquid and used for an extended period of time, the reliability thereof may not be satisfied.
Thus, a cooling method has been suggested in which each electronic component is put into a liquid resistant pouch and immersed in a refrigerant.
In the data center, a redundancy is provided not to hinder the system even when a portion of electronic components is failed. In addition, the electronic components have a structure in which the electronic components may be replaced with new electronic components in a state where the system is being operated (so-called a hot swap).
However, in the above-described method in which each electronic component is put into a pouch and immersed in a refrigerant, the top side of the pouch is opened such that the electronic components are connected to a circuit board disposed at an upper portion of a refrigerant tank through a connector. Thus, in order to replace the electronic components, the system is required to be stopped and the board is required to be lifted up.
The following is a reference document.
[Document 1] Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 4-372159.